Human Resource Development is an emerging profession and is of increasing importance in the workplace. This collection of articles is a response to the fast changing socio-political backdrop against which HRD scholars and practitioners are seeking to understand and interpret the field, and find new courses of action. Critical Thinking in Human Resource Development offers a radical alternative to mainstream thinking about developing people in the workplace. Traditionally, HRD literature has been based around functionalist and performativity perspectives with little attention paid to the wider social, economic and political contexts in which HRD operates. The chapters in this collection suggest new and cutting edge research agendas for the field and introduce the use of critical theory into the study of HRD. The book contains original chapters by some of the world's leading thinkers in the field and their work opens up the study of HRD, raising methodological questions and problematising current HRD practice. The book will be of interest to students of human resource development, human resource management and organisation and management studies. It will also appeal to critically reflexive human resource practitioners seeking alternative ways to conceptualise their profession, and to interpret the challenges they are facing in today's organisations. Book jacket.